Cup of Joe Photo

Magical Mystical Bridesmaid Image

I'm on a roll with the old editorial images. Here's another. This was from a bridesmaids shoot. Sometimes, part of the fun (or allure) of an image is not knowing the processing behind it. Obviously, this image did not look this mysterious when I captured it. I added a dark look to an otherwise bright and cheery image to purely experiment. You can make any image magical and mystical with Photoshop and a little imagination.

Bridal Portrait

This is another image I shot for Ceremony Magazine a few years ago. I love looking back at old images I'm really proud of. Being a photographer is capturing moments in time that can never be duplicated. That's cool! We exercise our gift of "creative creation" every time we release the shutter, freezing a moment in the past by anticipating moments in the future. I hope you'll enjoy this image in the present.

Day Trippin' in Los Angeles

We are going to be traveling to LA via a train to Union Station Tuesday May 12th. I'd love for all of you who want to do some cool street shooting to join the B school party train. Details on The B School under Day Trippin Club. Get ready to rock LA.

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time

Author Keith Ferrazzi knocks one out of the park with this book Never Eat Alone which explains the importance of building a network of relationships. Keith shares his vast knowledge and prescriptions for connecting people together. Business is built on relationships, and success in business relies on the people around you. The more people you will help, the more help you will receive. Keith shares practical advice that even an introverted artist can apply with ease. Highly recommended for your growth and to make the world a better place.

Special thanks to Eric Dogget who recommended this book to me and sent me his outline of notes too! Rock on Eric!

Life Lessons

I got the following text message from my daughter at 10 am last Friday morning.

OMG Daddy, I have a story for you. OK, so after you dropped me off Arron and I went to cross the street to go to school and right as we were getting to the middle Arron said " I hope a cop doesn't come" and then all of a sudden a cop pulls up to us and says "Pull over!" There were also some others kids who crossed with us and they ran. So the cop said "Stay here!" and he drove off to catch the other kids. Meanwhile, Arron was debating to run or not, but I said we should just stay because he won't give us a ticket if we stay. So the cop came back and was surprised to see us still standing there and said "OK you may go."

I sent her back a text message that I was so proud of her for doing the right thing by waiting. Her behavior was rewarded. The other kids got tickets.

Sometimes we do the wrong thing - like break the law - and sometimes we get caught by the rule enforcers. My daughters' obedience and responsibility after she was caught was rewarded with Mercy and Grace.

I hope you enjoy mercy and grace this week too.

Bridal Portrait

Yesterday, I was inspired to look through some older images and came upon some that I had shot for Ceremony magazine. Here's one I really love. Have a great Saturday.

Imagination

One of my favorite observations at weddings are children exercising their imagination. They do it so very naturally. What happens to most of us as we grow up? Where does the child-like wonder disappear to?

I suppose it's still there, playfully hiding and waiting. Perhaps waiting for us to play hide and seek.

Go ahead! Go find it! 3,2,1. Ready or not...

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. - Mark Twain

Seven Pounds

Right on! Ingrid and I finished watching Seven Pounds tonight. Whoa! I love movies like this. Great story, great acting and great directing. You really need to see this film. Enjoy.

Model Mayhem

Every once in a while I'm utterly speechless about another photographers images. My mind was blown yesterday while I was on Model Mayhem and saw the images of Southern California based fashion photographer Sinbad Kazakian. They are freakin' insane. A sublime combination of beauty, fantasy and surrealism.

His work inspired me to begin a journey into personal creative portraits I'm calling "Project People". I envision collaborating with creative "characters" and expanding my portfolio into the realm of the unusual and abstract.

Inspiration is contagious! Spread it around!

Is Faith Harmful?

As many of you know, I love movies! I watch movies...well, religiously.

Last night I watched Bill Maher's Religulous - a film dedicated to poking fun at the beliefs of the religions around the world. Bill uses his dry cynicism to question the reasons for Faith with the people he interviews. He often makes them look foolish and adds in clever film clips to further the insult.

The film is not all terrible, and it raises the very real question of why billions of people believe what they believe. Bill seems to believe his position of doubt just as fervently as the religious people he speaks too believe what they believe. Of course this film was not made to explore peoples faith as much as to comment on how ridiculous it seems.  At the end of the film he summarizes how Religion will destroy the world and that we need to do is "grow up or die".

I spent some time with Ingrid discussing the film this morning while we did our morning walk. Now I'd like to hear from you.

Do you think Faith is ultimately harmful or helpful? Whoa, talk about a loaded question. Since we are not at a dinner party, I guess I can get away with asking.